A New Friend
by Emerald Dragon77
Summary: Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy meet at a Ministry function during the summer before their third year at Hogwarts. Follow as their story unfolds and their relationship grows. Eventual slash, A/S


OMG! My first fic ever! I have been working on this for a while, but I figured I needed to put this up at some point. Hope you like it!

Warnings: eventual slash

Also, this is NOT Beta'd, but if you'd like to volunteer, by all means…

Rated: T (although it may take a while to get there)

A New Friend

Chapter 1: The Beginning

Al shifted from side to side, scanning the room for a familiar face. His parents stood chatting with the minister about boring adult stuff. James had already run off with his best friend and partner in crime Jeremy Corner from school. Lily was staying with her friend Alice for a couple of weeks, and Uncle Ron had taken his family on a trip to Romania to visit his brother Charlie for the remainder of the summer.

Al hated these Ministry functions. Usually he at least had his cousins Rose and Hugo to hang out with. He wished there was someone his age he could talk to, even Teddy would have offered a welcome distraction, but he didn't have to same social obligations as the son of the famous Harry Potter did. Besides, he would just spend the entire night mooning after Victoria, Al thought with an inward gag. So, Albus was left alone on the sidelines, sipping his glass of sparking pumpkin cider, letting the bubbles fizzle out on his tongue, even though he disliked the taste.

Just then, his attention was drawn to a flash of blond by his father's shoulder. Draco Malfoy cut an impressive figure with his hardened features and shoulder-length silvery hair that was pulled back into an elegant tail at the nape of his neck. Mr. Malfoy had certainly matured since his childhood days of throwing curses at little Harry Potter. He wore stylish black robes and carried himself with a confidence and grace that Al secretly envied. Al approached the scene with interest; he found the man fascinating, especially after hearing all of his father's stories.

"Hello Minister, Potter, Mrs. Potter," Mr. Malfoy said giving each a polite nod. The three murmured a respectful greeting in return. "Minister, you know my son, Scorpius. He's just completed his second year at Hogwarts." For the first time Al's eyes went to the boy at Mr. Malfoy's side. He was a small boy, the mirror image of his father as a child, with pressed navy dress robes and a posture schooled straight, masking his shy nature.

Al had seen Scorpius around school before, during classes or in the library on weekends. You would think that with such distinctive features, he would draw more attention; however, attention seemed to be something that Scorpius avoided with a passion. Now that Al thought about it, he couldn't recall ever seeing Scorpius speak to another student, at least not outside of class. Surely the boy had friends though, Al mused. Contrary to popular belief, Ravenclaws were not the solitary, uppity creatures that people made them out to be…well maybe a tad uppity, especially in the case of his cousin Rose. She had taken after her mother, and sometimes her tendency towards correcting everyone around her made her a pain. However, once you got over the fact that she was a walking encyclopedia, and a disparaging one at that, she became quite tolerable.

His mother's voice brought him back to the present. "I believe he's in the same year as our Albus. He should be around here somewh- ah, here he is," his mother motioned him forward. Al stepped up to group, silently cursing his mother's manners. He loved her really, but he hated when she forced him to socialize. Apparently it was "good for him."

Al nodded politely to the Malfoys and the minister, unconsciously copying Mr. Malfoy's previous gesture, happy to remain silent. His mother's hand positioned him more closely beside her, away from the comforting outskirts of their circle. She smiled widely, "Al's in Gryffindor with James. I can't believe that Lily and Hugo are set to leave in the fall; I'll be so lonely without any of my children. I don't know how you do it Mr. Malfoy."

The elder Malfoy let out a soft chuckle and produced a thin-lipped smile. "Well, it does get a bit quiet around the manor, but I always have my work. Isn't that right minister?" he said with a playful quirk of his eyebrow. Well, perhaps playful was the wrong word Al pondered. Everything about the man was rehearsed and trained to the picture of cultured politeness. Even as he chatted with seeming amiability, he kept up a cool front of detachment.

Al forced himself to snap back to the conversation at hand. He found that he had developed a habit for observing people he didn't know and, as his sister Lily put it, "psycho-analyzing" them.

Another couple had approached their circle and began talking work-cases with the adults. Al saw this as the perfect opportunity to run away. Unfortunately, his mother caught his arm as he tried to drift away unnoticed. "Where do you think you're going young man?"

Albus hated it when she called him "young man." "I was just going to get something else to drink."

"Ah, why don't you take Scorpius with you?"

Al unsuccessfully tried to hide his grimace, "I'd love to." Then he directed his sights towards the blonde boy-statue at his father's side, "Care to join me?" He blinked as if coming out of a trance.

"Pardon?"

Who says "pardon" anymore? "Come on," Al turned without waiting for him to follow. "So, what do you want?" he asked over his shoulder.

"You're the one that told me to follow you," was the confused reply.

"I meant what drink." Albus don't know why he was getting so pissed. "Pumpkin juice?"

"Oh, I guess I'll have some pineapple juice if they have it. I never cared much for pumpkin."

"Really?" Al was briefly surprised out of his foul mood. "Me neither."

After they had ordered their drinks, Scorpius followed Al into a quiet corner of the ballroom. Al would have loved to just hitch up his dress pants and sit on the floor, but even he knew that would be frowned upon. Luckily a pair of chairs was conveniently free. They sat in silence, sipping at their juice until Al forced himself to break the silence. "Do you see that woman in the scarlet dress robes with the smushed face?"

"You mean Mrs. Finch?"

"Well, when she was a child, her cousin Barnabus convinced her to go climb the big tree in her backyard. However, she didn't know that Barnabus had sneaked a couple of Zonko's Bat-Banshees into her pocket when she wasn't looking. So there she was up in the old tree when all of a sudden she heard a high-pitched wail and felt a fluttering in her pocket. She was so startled that she lost her grip and fell from the tree, but not before smashing her face in on the limb below. The medi-wizards said there was nothing they could do."

"Really?" Scorpius asked in astonishment. "How do you know that?"

Al bit his lip, but finally couldn't stop himself from bursting out laughing. "You're so gullible! I made up the whole thing."

Scorpius scowled, "Then how did her face get like that?"

"Beats me," Al shrugged.

Scorpius continued to scowl. "Look, if you want me to leave, I will, but I'm not just going to sit by while you take the piss out of…"

"Hey, hey, take it easy," Al interrupted. "It's nothing personal; it's just a game I play with my cousins sometimes. We pick a random person and make up a story about them. Here, you try."

"No, that's okay." At least he sounded like he'd forgiven Al.

"Come on. It's fun," he insisted. "Look, I'll start you off: That man with the bald patch in the tweed muggle suit."

"Okay," he sucked in a shaky breath. "Well, he just got back from an undercover stint for the ministry in Egypt. He was looking into the reports of a Hangker-Backed sloth that was attacking tourists. If you look closely, I think you'll find where the animal took a chunk out of his arm; that's why he hasn't taken off his suit jacket."

Al was momentarily stunned. "Not bad, not bad at all." He patted him on the back and smiled his approval. Perhaps Scorpius wasn't so bad after all.

"Now you," he grinned back with growing confidence, "that wizard with the bulbous nose…" The night continued on in a similar fashion as their stories became increasingly outrageous, and they soon were huddled together, giggling and snorting into their hands. By the end of the night, Al believed that they were equally reluctant to go, but Scorp (as Al had taken to calling him) told him he'd send an owl soon. And as Scorpius' father led him from the party with a stern look and swirling robes in his wake, Al could feel that this was just the beginning.

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Again, this is my first fic. I'm not really sure where this story is going, but I would appreciate any feedback (hopefully constructive). Was it totally lame? What would you like to see with this story? Did the characters seem believable? I know this is only the first chapter, but again, any feedback is appreciated. Please Review!


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